One January Morning
by Verthril
Summary: He jumped out of the car in just jeans and a T-shirt as if the cold didn't bother him, and sitting there bundled up against the it, Kitty waited for him to go rummaging for a coat that must have been pulled off not long into the drive.
1. Chapter 1

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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It was the kind of early morning Kitty loved, the sort where it was so easy to think you were the only person awake in the whole wide world. The school slumbered behind her with a dusting of freshly fallen snow that was, as of yet, still untouched and wondrous. Warming her hands on a mug of tea, she sat out on the front steps of that very school which had become her whole world, if not her home.

And while homey it might be it still felt too big at times, with there being far too few of them and altogether too many empty rooms. Of the times she had asked the Professor about this his reply was always the same, that it was only a matter of time. With too few students to fill the classrooms, the lessons taught were often done so in the Professors study, the library, the den, or even the garage where Mister Summers tried to muster in them an interest of cars and bikes (all this done under the guise of shop class).

Shaking off these thoughts, the stars above were beautiful and the sky itself still dark as the dawn lingered a lifetime away. Enjoying a sip of the tea she warmed her hands on, it was a coins toss if she really heard a car in the distance or if she just wanted to hear the one she waited on.

Each and every set of lights that crested the blind hill of that distant bend were held against her memory of the car Mister Summers had driven away in, an unassuming Chevy sedan. It was a car that held a special place in her heart ever since she'd made the trip to Xavier's in it riding shotgun. Since then chance and circumstance had her meet a few new faces pulling up that very same car.

Only a couple of weeks before it had been Jones she had met that way, and how it hurt to think of all the time he had spent with Doctor Grey since then. The poor kid had been treated by a quack of a physician thinking to treat his 'insomnia' with prescription after prescription that did more harm than good. Such an eye opening moment in her life she had never experienced before, and ever since she wanted to be there to greet the new faces and help them settle in. Even if that meant on a morning such as this that she had to get up before the sun had bothered to rise, and to half freeze her behind off in the process.

To hear the faint sound of road spray promised that this time she wasn't hearing things, and so she waited out the darkness to be dispelled by the headlights that perfectly fit the ones she remembered. As that unassuming Chevy slowed the gates opened, the fresh snow crushed beneath the tires in a squeak and squawk of protest for the trip up the drive, interrupted only by lazy slap of wipers that now and again cleared the windshield.

Fat were the flakes that fell, their brief lives cut short as they quickly melted against the warm windows of the car. With it still running the driver side door was thrown open with Scott stepping out for a good, long stretch and groan. Waving at him, Kitty got a polite nod back and a smile that showed him to be happy to be home. The school was growing on her in that sense, too. There still were times when she missed her old life, most likely there always would be. But too many painful memories left her home as something she would have had grown out of anyway, the novelty of a normal life worn away and tarnished.

As eager as she was to help, she still remembered pulling up to the school to find herself need some time to take it all in. It was just too big, too grand, and just too much for her to process all at once. So she watched and waited, and in doing so noticed a boy fast asleep in the back, a boy who looked cute as he stirred and woke as Mister Summers opened up one of the back doors. Crouched and hunched, Scott came back holding a bundle of blankets from which a leg tumbled out of, and only then did she realize that it was a another kid, one wrapped up against the cold and seemingly still fast asleep.

"Bobby?" Scott called, to which the boy unspokenly answered.

Thinking he looked like a Bobby, there was something honest and everyday about him, the sort of boy mothers wanted to see their little girls come home with. He jumped out of the car in just jeans and a T-shirt as if the cold didn't bother him, and sitting there herself bundled up against that very same cold, Kitty waited for him to go rummaging for a coat that he must have pulled off somewhere along the drive.

Instead he just looked up at the school as so many others before him had, just standing there in the snow with his hands in his pockets, utterly unperturbed by the flakes that fell to dust his hair. Only as he looked to the school doors did she see a blush, and clearly not from the cold with how he smiled. As her eyes met his, Kitty felt her own cheeks burning from noticing really just how cute he was.

As he smiled at her she was betrayed by her own, smiling right back at him instead of feigning the disinterest that all her friends had advised her to do, well, back when she still had friends who gave her dating advice pulled from magazines.

"Hi, I'm Bobby." At saying this he looked embarrassed, "But you probably already figured that out..."

"Yep, I'm Kitty by the way."

Sipping her tea to hide her smile that just wouldn't go away, she watched as he gave a small wave to Mister Summers before running to the trunk. There he pulled out a ratty old knapsack of the likes that weren't unheard of around the school, not with some of kids having been runaways with John chief among them. Try as she might to cut him some slack, Allerdyce had one of those oblivious personalities that didn't have an ounce of tact.

And while Bobby could have perhaps been a runaway, he sure didn't strike her as a guy who was into hot pink. No, he looked like the kind of guy who would have a duffle that had once seen him through a camping trip before gathering dust until it was needed again. As it turned out, it was an army surplus rucksack, one he easily hefted over his shoulder without any much trouble. The last thing to be pulled out was a skateboard, and that just painted cute and sweet Bobby as a bit of a thrill seeker.

Slipping off her perch as Mister Summers came by, she helped him with the door and had a peek at the kid tucked away in the blanket. She was a cutie for sure, perhaps Chinese in heritage or somewhere there about, and if she was ten Kitty would have been surprised. Whispering a silent '_Thank you_' as he passed by, Mister Summers left her alone with Bobby.

"Need a hand?" Kitty asked as she spun on her heel, only to catch Bobby climbing up the stairs looking as though he was getting along just fine.

"I got this." It wasn't bravado or him showing off, just a truthful remark said without a second thought.

Standing there with the door open, that the car was still running hinted that Mister Summers would be back after he got to tucking in the kid for the night, so she shut the door to chase after Bobby. Thinking of just what a boy like him might want to do first after a long drive, the kitchen and something to eat were at the top of her list, well, somewhere after maybe needing to 'check the plumbing' as her father always had so politely said on needing to the washroom.

"You skate?" Kitty asked, looking to make a bit of small talk.

"Yeah, you?"

"Sorry, ice only." Chuckling, she'd never been bold enough to try out skateboarding back in her old life.

"Me too." Bobby replied, and at her curious look he seemed to put the pieces of her puzzled expression together, "Oh! This isn't mine, it's hers."

It was a misunderstanding that came with a pleasant surprise, one that had her find out that Bobby and her shared a hobby. Traipsing into the kitchen with a flourish, Bobby looked instantly impressed if his low whistle was anything to go by. He was clearly just as shy, too, as she had been at first about going for a good rummage in the fridge or cabinets.

"It also doubles as our classroom for Home Ec." Kitty mentioned.

Hoping to make him feel safe, it was the nudge he needed to throw down his rucksack. Rough as he was with his own stuff, she saw him take far more care with the little cutie's skateboard and knapsack, setting them down together with his own stuff. Smiling again, she didn't care if he caught her watching as he made a beeline for the fridge. Standing there gaping, she openly giggled at him and his clear indecision. If anything, the fridge was always well stocked beyond imagining.

"Don't be shy, help yourself." Kitty said as she walked up for a peek down in the freezer drawer.

Having some ice cream in there that she had made during one such Home Ec class, the lesson plans were little more than guidelines than anything writ in stone with how few of them there were. Turning her back to Bobby as to leave him be, by the time she had scooped out a bowl of real, homemade vanilla ice cream, he had a pile of meats and cheeses spread across the island that left him with a dilemma between French's Mustard or Dijon.

Obviously having himself a hankering for a sandwich, Kitty found the leftovers of a day old loaf that someone had made during their last class, "Sorry, all out of Wonder bread."

"Whoa, this looks way better than Wonder bread. Thanks."

Overhearing who she suspected to be Mister Summers off somewhere in the foyer, the front door opened and closed with a quiet click which the early hour insisted on. Headlights flashed in the windows as the garage door rattled open. It was minutes later and from the side door that Scott returned, looking like Mister Dad himself with a mismatched pair of fuzzy socks in one hand and new looking jacket in the other.

"Could you show Bobby to a room once he's ready to hit the hay? We'll worry about something more permanent this afternoon." Scott said in passing as he gathered up the little cutie's skateboard and knapsack.

Nodding her reply, what with her mouth being busy with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream, Kitty wondered just where the girl had been tucked in for the night. Probably off in the teachers wing, somewhere close to Mister Summers in case she woke up feeling lost. The first night away was always the worst, a night often filled with bellyaches born of crying out of homesickness. It got better with time, but there were still some nights when she couldn't sleep. They were the nights spent wondering about all the _ifs_ and _buts_ that might have changed things, nights wondering _why her_?

Drowning these dour thoughts in ice cream, Kitty watched with undisguised surprise as Bobby wolfed down the monstrous sandwich he had made, "...boys."

"What?"

Realizing she had been overheard through all his munching, Kitty spun off of her stool to take a stroll to the sink. Tossing her empty ice cream tub and spoon in, she did a the few dishes left loitering from someone's earlier midnight snack.

"So, ready to play goldilocks?" Kitty asked after stacking up the done dishes in the strainer.

"Goldilocks?" Bobby asked with a laugh, one she liked.

"This one's too hard, that one's too soft, but this one? This one's just right. Just like Goldilocks. It's a game that lets find you a bed for the night, I've seen Jean play it with a couple of the younger kids to help them settle in. She said it gave them just that bit of control they needed or something like that."

"Sure, let me just wash this real quick and get a drink."

Adding polite and consciences to his qualities, maybe Bobby just came from that kind of family. That in and of itself was a mix bag around the school, that being the students cleaning up after themselves. Her own habit of doing dishes while cooking was something picked up as to keep her hands busy between checking how a dish was coming along, be it Mac 'n Cheese or just the pita pizzas the younger kids loved. Though after a few Home Ec's with Missus Munroe, what she could cook had improved from being that and fish fingers or grilled cheese.

"Tap water? We have a ..." Kitty started, pointing to the water dispenser on the fridge.

A touch of mischief twinkled in Bobby's eyes, one she liked. Watching as the glass frosted over, the water inside looked cold enough that flecks of ice floated inside. Handing it to her, the first sip was beyond ice cold.

"Scott called me a Cryokinetic, whatever that is. I just know the cold doesn't bother me, and I'm never far from a cold drink."

"Anything else?" Kitty asked, her interest long since piqued.

"Uh, nothing I've done on purpose. That's why I wanted to come here."

His answer was eager and hopeful, he obviously wasn't scared of what he could do, and that in itself was something that would be a nice change of pace around the school.

John found out on his birthday of all days after trying to blow out candles that wouldn't die. Jones had to be told he wasn't sick, that he was just different from most folks. And as for herself? She'd let her parents believe she had a habit of sleep walking when they found her down in the living room, or even the basement that one time. The thing was, though, that she remembered falling through the floors after waking up from a nightmare, but that wasn't something she could tell them her nice and normal parents.

Wondering if Bobby's parents knew about him, she couldn't ask that of someone she had met just maybe twenty minutes ago. There was always tomorrow, though, after she showed him around the spare rooms for a game of Goldilocks.

"Goodnight." Kitty whispered, standing at the threshold.

"See you, uh...later today I guess? Think you could show me around some more?" Bobby asked as an afterthought.

"I, uh, I...sure." Kitty stammered, feeling foolish for getting flustered from such an innocent question.

"Cool, it's a date."

With how offhandedly he said it she knew she shouldn't read too much into it, but closing the door to rest her back against it, she felt a goofy smile split her lips. Rushing through the halls that lead to her room, Kitty ghosted through her door because she couldn't trust herself not to slam it behind her. Bouncing into bed to realize there was no way she was getting back to sleep, it was to be a sleepless night born out of thinking about a cute boy and his nice and sincere smile that set her heart aflutter.

"Huh, well, I guess I'll go keep Jones some company. I wonder if anything good is playing this early?"

Ghosting in leaving just as she came, she snuck back down to the kitchen first. If there was one thing she knew about Jones, it was that he liked himself glass of grape juice. Pouring two, she snuck off to the den to greet the new day with the sweetest little night owl she knew.

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A/N: I've always wanted to explore the first X-men movie before it happened, so I thought it'd be fun to do so through a bit of girl meets boy. Gonna mix in a little of both continuities, the Pre and Post DoFP.


	2. Chapter 2

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"I'm supposed to be here!"

It was blurted out so defensively that Kitty figured the little cutie had a history of being places she wasn't supposed to be. Looking a heartbeat shy of bolting, Kitty hunkered down on her heels and put up her hands in admission of defeat, the cutie was the boss and that was that. It did the trick in a pinch, having a gander at the kitchen in that moment she had bought herself. Some cabinets still hung opened , looking ransacked and rummaged, all the food that was spread over the kitchen table the grab and go kind that hinted at a life on the run.

"What's your name?" Kitty asked, watching the girl tear open a fresh box of chewy granola bars.

"What's yours?"

If her scowl was meant to be menacing, Kitty had news for her. John had been the same way at first, guarded against getting hurt again, always keeping an eye for the door if it really did turn out too good to be true.

"Kitty. Can I show you something?" Names could wait, right now it was all about trying to earn some trust.

Even still it stung to see that kind of calculating look in the eyes of a girl younger than her, a girl she first laid eyes on bundled up in blankets and carried off by Mister Summers, looking innocent and sweet as she slept. Opening up a bottom cupboard that looked like it had been stocked with the be all and end all of boring, full of canned beans and three different kinds of rice, Kitty cheated in her search for something that was meant to be a secret.

"Pudding." Kitty revealed with a flourish, Miss Munroe's secret stash, snack sized and ready to enjoy.

Those calculating eyes were filled with the kind of longing that said she was sold, and so Kitty found a couple of spoons and joined her at the kitchen table. Pick, peel, and lick. It was a routine repeated throughout countless school lunchrooms, pudding cups a treat right up there with wagon wheels and twinkies.

"Jubilee."

"Huh?"

"I'm Jubilee..."

"Is that a nickname or..."

The scowl was back, right along with angry pursed lips that said she had suffered through this before. Turning the name over and looking at it from the memory of the sweet little girl she'd seen the night before, fast asleep in Mister Summers arm...

"Jujube?" Kitty asked.

"...what?"

"You gotta have a nickname don't you? I'm a Katherine myself but my mom always called me her pretty Kitty. Did your mom ever have a nickname like that for you?"

A horrid screech came with the chair being scooted back all too fast, the table shaking from the force behind the tiny arms pushing herself free. Jubilee was at the threshold of the kitchen before Kitty could even think to her feet, and by the time she caught up to where she had been she was gone.

"Crap..." Kitty hissed.

There was no use chasing after her, the sad truth was that the poor kid probably had too much practice running away. It'd be best to let her go and find some place she felt safe, just maybe someone else would have better luck, and it'd give her time to think up an apology. Pudding probably wouldn't cut it the next time. Looking back at the kitchen, someone had to clean up the mess so it might as well be her.

The school was waking as she straightened the shelves, adding a few things to the grocery list like pudding cups. She got a little helper out of Jones who came looking for a glass of juice, he didn't go asking questions, he was good that way. If she was in for a penny then it might as well be a pound, finishing off the last of Miss Munroe's secret pudding stash with him once the kitchen had been tidied up.

"You think anything good is on?"

A shrug was his answer, he was pretty easy going, cute in that kid brother kind of way or so too much television told her. A week had made a world of difference, she wondered what a month would do after all the pills he'd been on were just a bad memory. Part of her wanted to peck him on the cheek, but that just felt too forward and open to being mistaken for something else, so she settled for a hug.

"Anyone asks, I've gone for a walk, time to enjoy all that snow." Kitty whispered in the embrace, already people were getting used to ask Jones of the comings and goings that happened around the school.

Pulling on boots lined in fake fur and a jacket that matched, pockets were all her hands needed against the cold. Dazed and blinded as she met that new day, the sky was azure and land beneath dusted in billowy ivory, the horizon between a tangled line caught in the snow-laden boughs of the trees that ran unto the edge of her world.

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She liked to think it was her secret retreat, somewhere only she knew about that she could show someone someday. Kitty liked to think of it as a lake, even if she worried it was little more than a grand pond, but the thing that really drew her to it was the hint of winters past told in a pair of weathered ice skates hanging from a branch.

The blades were rusted red and the leather worn, the laces tied together between the pair forever more, the branch grown up around them. She wondered just whose they had been and why they had been forgotten, but to ask would dispel the magic, so she left it a mystery instead. It just made the place all the more special too her, made the school feel a bit more like home even if she had never once skated anywhere other than the indoor ice rinks all her life.

"Me too..." Kitty whispered, remembering the night before.

There had been some magic then too, the kind meant for the twilight times where the world was thin, dreams and the wakeful reality just a flutter of eyes away from another. She wished she could go back to when everything had been right, to see Jubilee as a cute kid who hadn't seen the kind of pain she obviously had, to dream of all the dates a cute boy had promised her.

"It's just a saying." Kitty cursed herself, reading too much into the offhand remark.

She was smarter than that, smart enough to know better, but something about Bobby made her...hopeful. It just rubbed off on her at the worst time, breaking one of those unwritten rules at the school, you don't go asking about someone's parents. All she had been trying to do was bond over the kind of names kids always teased about.

Sighing out of frustration at herself, maybe it wasn't a date but it was still a promise. She owed him a tour of the school so she might as well bite the bullet. Looking back the way she came, those footsteps were of a girl running away from her silly problems. A smile tugged at her lips as she took that first step back, finding a new path through the untouched snow.

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She found him in the kitchen fixing himself some breakfast, the problem was that he wasn't alone. She couldn't blame him for getting friendly with John, the resident pyromaniac was fine in small doses, kind of like rat poison or so she heard.

"Wow, someone had the munchies." John said with a whistle, having himself a rummage of the cupboards.

"Hey John?" Kitty called from the threshold, catching the attention of both boys.

He had a smile for her, the kind of smug smirk he got whenever she had to ask a favour from him. A flickering glance saw Bobby mixing up some pancakes, the just add water kind that was always on hand, and making a heck of a mess of the counter. John walked on up and she hated that he was taller than her, having him lean in so she could whisper her favour.

"Can you keep an eye out for the new girl, we...didn't hit it off. I think she's a runaway..."

All the humour drained from John's eyes, having another look at the cupboards that were cast in a new light. There was that redeeming quality that made her tolerate him, all his crude jokes and lame pick up lines from back when they'd been strangers.

"Drake right? You, me, the den later. I still owe you an ass kicking in some Halo."

Feeling a bit of reassurance from the gentle squeeze John gave her shoulder as he left, Kitty let go of the breath she had been holding and looked back to Bobby. There was a story told in the hand mixer splattered in batter, and the fact that he was favouring a whisk to mix with. Leaving him too it, she wandered off to the sink and found a cloth to start cleaning up his mess.

"I got that..." Bobby started.

"Just make me one and we'll call it even." Kitty offered, trying her best to appear aloof as he gave a nod with a small smile.

Digging out a cast iron skillet, pancakes always tasted better out of it, getting it ready on the gas range. Finding some plates, Kitty watched Bobby wash his dishes while the batter had a chance to rise. A spat of butter sizzled and hissed, the first batch thrown on and left to brown and bubble.

"Bon appetit." Bobby said as he plated a pancake.

"Merci."

Sure enough the aroma of their meal lured in a few stragglers looking for a free lunch, or breakfast as the case might be. The leftover batter was finished in short order, and as they finished theirs, they shared a look.

"You mix, I flip?" Bobby asked.

"Deal, and then maybe I'll show you around the school some." Kitty agreed, shooing away a few of the younger kids out to make a mess.

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"Whoa, now that's what a library is supposed to look like."

"I know right?" Kitty laughed, that had been her reaction when she had been given the tour.

Walking the stacks, she let him lead her along and look at it through fresh eyes. He lead them down through all the fantasy that filled the shelves, running a finger across the spines of so many stories she had yet to read herself. Hard covers brushed shoulders with paperbacks with dog eared pages, here and there forgotten bookmarks told of where a journey ended, waiting for the gauntlet to be picked up anew.

"It's just like any school, card in the back that you fill your name out in."

Taking up a book at random, Kitty flipped to the back and pulled the card out for show. A lot were empty, but some like the one she had picked had names she knew from peeking around at the photos that hung about the school, names she knew as teachers. Sometimes she'd just walk through the stacks pulling books at random, looking at that little card in the back to see who liked what.

Together they wandered for a spell, finally checking out a couple of books each. Carrying on and peeking into empty classrooms as they passed by, it wasn't a day for lessons.

"Why don't I show you the gym."

That had his attention and she wondered if he had played any sports back in his old life, back before he found out the cold didn't bother him. It was a question she'd let lie for now, find the right time to ask when it came around, nicknames had made her timid after being too bold.

The squawk of sneakers and echoing shouts told that someone had beaten them to the gym, but there was an unfamiliar noise in there too. Just as Bobby was about to barge on in though she recognized it at last, grabbing his arm and pulling him short, it was the sound of a skateboard. Her cheeks burned as she looked from her hand to his eyes to see a curious look in them.

"Um..." Kitty hummed, trying to find something to say.

For the first time she found his smile infuriating, he was enjoying all her suffering without knowing the story behind it. But as he threw an arm over her shoulders and walked her up to the door, her heart stopped and her breath couldn't be found. Cracking it open so they could peek in, Bobby leaned back and let her see inside.

It was John and Jubilee taking turns at the skateboard, and by the look of things John was hard pressed to keep up with a girl he had years on. This was the girl she'd seen in the blanket, the cutie who should be smiling and laughing, and just maybe showing off a bit. This was John proving he had some good qualities after all.

"Wanna come back later?" Bobby asked in a whisper, and Kitty could only nod.

It was only half way down the hall she realized he still had his arm around her shoulder, holding her near and close as they chatted about the school. She let herself enjoy it, enjoy the warmth that grew between them as they walked together. It wasn't anything she should read too much into, just a friendly gesture, even if a little devil was whispering in her ear an echo of words spoken but hours before..._it's a date_.

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	3. Chapter 3

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"Kitty!"

The squeaky squelch of winter boots carried down the hall, right along with the girl making all the noise, Theresa Cassidy herself. Snatching her up for a hug, Kitty caught her looking shyly at Bobby, so much like she had been doing herself.

"You know we got a mud room for a reason munchkin?"

"But Pete's being boring, he's just making snowmen that don't look like proper snowmen." Terri grumbled as if that was reason enough to be tracking snow on in and over the hardwood.

"And you want to do something fun, don't you?"

It was a question answered with an eager nod. Setting the girl down and giving her a playful kick to her bottom to send her back out into all the snow, Kitty looked after the still melting mess and heaved a sigh.

"The janitor closet wasn't exactly part of the tour I'm guessing?" Bobby asked with a laugh, earning himself a mop shoved into his chest.

"I was saving it for the end." Kitty joked, though only half in jest.

The truth was messes happened and someone had to clean them up, life at the school was about growing up fast while trying to hold onto all the right moments, like cleaning up after a six year old Irish lass looking for a couple of playmates.

"I didn't know it happened that young." Bobby said in a voice tinged with sadness.

"Terri? She hasn't, I mean, not yet anyways. She's, well she's kind of a legacy. Her dad went here way back when, but he can't be here for her right now."

Kitty wondered if it was the tone of her voice that had Bobby not ask after Terri's mom, or just maybe it was the sad smile she had when she thought of all the stories Terri told her about her Da who was missing his little girl grow up. A lot of them sounded like _hand me downs _told as bedtime stories when he could be there to tuck her in, like the time he learned how to fly.

"Something tells me there are some people keeping his seat warm until he gets back."

Thinking of the little girl waiting for them to join her, it was a wondrous thought to think she was growing up somewhere that she wouldn't be judged if she found out she was special or gifted. Leaning her mop against a wall, Kitty reached out for a hug that was freely given, leaving her glad to be reminded of all the good things in a little girl's life instead of all the sad moments. It was enough to give her the courage to face another girl who could probably use a few bright moments in her life.

"Why don't you go see if John's up for a snowball fight instead of some Halo?" Kitty asked, resting her chin against Bobby's chest so she could look up to his kind eyes.

"Sounds like my kind of fun."

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"Hey guys, Kitty's getting a bunch of us together for a snowball fight for Terri, you guys in?"

"Consider your ass kicked Drake!" John shouted, landing a trick he'd been trying to get down for the better part of a half hour.

It was only as the door to the gym slammed shut that he realized his mistake, turning to find Jubilee avoiding his gaze and holding her knapsack to her chest. All she had was the clothes on her back, her board, and everything important to her crammed inside a beat up school bag. He had his own one, it'd been a gym bag meant for sweaty shirts and stinking socks. It took him a long time to unpack, and even empty it was something he couldn't just throw away.

"I ever get to telling you that I'm from Australia?" John asked, trying to earn back a bit of trust one confession at a time.

Her shrug was old hat for him, a bit of a maybe hidden behind tight lips, just enough of a reply to get someone off your back if they were still waiting for an answer. Giving her board a kick, he sent it back to her. He remembered just how much it pissed him off to see Mister Summers holding his lighter hostage never even knowing how important it was to him.

"What I'm saying Hollywood is, how about you and a boy from Oz go show them how it's done?"

"Beverly Hills." Jubilee mumbled, her eyes blinking too fast as she fought tears with her lips looking on the verge of a pitiful pout.

"Lets just keep that our secret, I mean I got everyone thinking I'm from London. Fucking gits, oi, am I right?" John said with a forced accent, smirking down at her in another confession.

Her eyes fell with her shoulders, looking less tense but all the more sad in that moment. He didn't have to ask her why, he knew the answer, he had lived that very moment himself. It was a bit of pride and shame all mixed together in the stomach making it a tight and painful knot, and it didn't get any better admitting you needed a hand out because that bag could only hold so much. At least that was how it looked after living on the streets for too long, fending for yourself from one meal to the next.

"If you're up for helping me hand out an ass kicking, I think I know somewhere to get you geared up."

Slinging her knapsack over her shoulder and grabbing her board, she found her feet and followed after him. All it took to know he'd keep his end of the bargain were the photos that lined the halls, that and the fact that the Professor had a lot of attic space to keep stuff around until it was needed. It might not be the height fashion fit for Beverly Hills, but he figured Hollywood just might like it all the same.

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"I am the invincible Iceman! Your attacks do nothing!" Bobby roared as he took another snowball to his bare chest.

"Kitty, you cheated!" Terri rightly accused as her well packed missile passed through the ghostly girl she looked up to.

"Only because I had to dodge John throwing one right at my face!"

"It wasn't me, it was Hollywoo...!" John lied, struck by a bit of friendly fire from the girl he had tried to lay the blame at.

Snickering and laughing, Kitty watched Jubilee forget her former alliance and show what the price of betrayal was. Hiding her face as Jones was hit by an errant snowball, the game was quickly breaking down into a free for all, the pairs growing fewer and fewer as the game dragged on. Yet out of the chaos new pacts were being made, with some traps being laid.

"Bobby, look out!" Kitty shrieked with a sputtering giggle knowing it was already too late.

The self named Iceman looked up into the face of defeat to see Pete holding a huge snowball fit for a snowman over his head, tossing it as if it were nothing to bury the boy dressed in jeans and a loose fitting button up shirt left undone. But Pete wouldn't be Pete if he didn't offer a hand and help the boy from Long Island back onto his feet, any grudges forgiven.

"Okay, now it feels like I got sand down my pants." Bobby muttered, his one complaint as he squirmed around restlessly.

"Really?" Terri asked, incredulous in her disbelief.

"I guess the cold does bother you a bit after all." Kitty teased, treading on up through the snow that had become a battlefield.

Struck from behind and sent stumbling, Kitty found herself held against an all too bare chest, feeling a bit too warm suddenly in her winter wear. Blaming her blush on the cold, she found the strength to look away from Bobby to see two likely culprits in Jones and Jubilee.

"Okay, which one of you..." Kitty growled, proving she had some claws after all.

Neither would take the blame, both pointing to the other. Her cutie was scowling again, but this time it was at Jones in a way that said he was learning some bad habits from John. Taking another page from John's book, Jones knew when to run, fleeing from the twice betrayed girl. It was the only invitation Terri needed, the game turned to girls against boys after one lie too many had been told.

"Don't even think of it." Kitty said with a haughty sniff, daring either of the boys she was with to raise a single frosty flake against her.

"Yeah, I need a shower anyway. Tell me who wins okay?" Bobby asked, letting go of Kitty at last and heading back to the school.

Laughter, taunts, and jeers echoed across the estate, and standing there watching it all, Kitty felt an inkling of a reminder of home in it all. It was a reminder of the wars waged across her neighbourhood back when her world hadn't stretched much further than the next block and the one after it. Everything else was just some place on a map or in her imagination, pictures in the newspaper or far off places seen on the television.

"Katya?" Pete asked, drawing her from her reverie.

"Da?"

Maybe had she not been so distracted she would have noticed the tone of his voice, thinking instead that it just another of their impromptu lessons of the Russian language. Her earlier warning had fallen on deaf ears, shrieking from the ghastly chill that ran down her spine as a snowball was slipped past her shirt. Balling her fist and socking Pete as hard as she could, she chased after Bobby on his way back to the school. He wasn't alone in needing a shower, and just maybe a mug of hot chocolate.

"I'm telling Illyana about that!" Kitty spat over her shoulder.

His laughter was that of a beloved brother who couldn't do wrong in the eyes of his sister, one she had gotten to know through phone calls and letters. It was a reminder that they weren't all runaways or misfits, that some had loving homes waiting for them to return to. The school was there for all the rest who had nowhere else to go, all because one man had a dream he wanted to share with them.

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	4. Chapter 4

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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"She's worse than my dog was."

"Well, you were the one that mentioned a trip to the doctor." Kitty hissed in a whisper, "I didn't know you had a dog."

She didn't know much about John actually, despite how chatty he could be, he hadn't opened up about himself very much. It was conversations such as they were having that the little truths came out in offhand remarks, such as likening a certain little cutie to a dog hiding from a trip to the vet.

"Border Collie mix, never knew what with." Smiling at the memory of the family pet, John peeked in a linen closet on a whim.

"You really think she'd hide in there?" Kitty asked, but truth be told they too much ground to cover and the Professor wasn't giving them any hints.

"Hey, she's tiny. She could probably be hiding in a lot of places."

The Professor obviously knew just where she was, but it was all part of letting them settle in and feel welcome. The only problem being that so was a full check up and Doctor Grey wanted Jubilee to see a trusted pediatric given her circumstances.

"Well we've checked the attic, the gym, the library and even the garage. And we know from playing this game with Terri, that the Prof would give us the heads up if she had fallen asleep wherever she's hiding."

Terri took hide and seek serious to the point she'd dozed off during a couple of games and didn't hear them calling for her. So that meant Jubilee was awake wherever she was. Hoping Bobby and Jones were having better luck than them, a peek out the window saw Pete giving Terri a piggyback ride out in the snow, checking for any signs that Jubilee might have fled the cozy warmth of the school.

"Did I just hear a..." John asked quietly before falling silent, exaggeratedly mouthing the rest, "...can of coke?"

Nodding in reply, Kitty listened for anything else but was met with silence. Motioning for John to keep walking and talking to himself, she waited behind. Just on the very edge of her senses did she hear the familiar crack of a can of pop getting opened the rest of the way. The hallway offered few places for anyone to hide with windows lining one edge that overlooked the estate.

Listening at the wall and doing her best to ignore John having a one-sided conversation with himself, the crinkle and crackle of a bag of chips was unmistakable. Pointing at the very wall she had her ear pressed to, Kitty saw that John was just as confused as she was. Proving he could be sneaky when he worked at it, he joined her there and listened with her.

"No way!" John mouthed out in his disbelief.

The school was old enough for it, but now their little game of cat and mouse had turned into something just a bit more interesting than a game of hide and seek with a girl hiding from a trip to the doctor. Offering John her hand, Kitty counted down from five but picked three to ghost through the wall...right into the secret passage Jubilee had been hiding in.

A half empty bag of chips and nearly full can of coke sat where she had been, but Jubilee hadn't gotten far, sparing them one last glance before darting around a corner.

"Oh she better have found out about this before anyone else, otherwise you guys have been holding out on me!" John shouted, immediately chasing after the wayward girl.

"Well I got some questions for the Professor concerning his rules about not ghosting through the walls, because I'm wondering if he was fibbing about the risk of electrical fires!" Kitty snapped back, just a little irked that she hadn't known about it either.

Darkness enveloped them quickly enough, as unlike the girl they had been chasing after, they hadn't brought with them a flashlight. The flick of a zippo brought with it a dim light, her eyes adjusting to the gloom as John cautiously lead the way through the secret passage as if they were in some murder mystery.

"Somewhere Doc Grey and the Prof are having tea and crumpets while laughing at us." John growled.

"Probably while Mister Summers tries to tell them enough is enough." Kitty agreed.

Dazzling light flooded the passage with the mechanical groan and scrape suiting of the booby trap from an ancient temple fit for Hollywood. Blinking past the stars that blinded her, Kitty saw a silhouette standing at the threshold of some hidden entrance.

"That's more or less how it went. Don't worry, Jean intercepted her once she got on the dumbwaiter." Scott said in greeting.

"When were you going to tell us about this?" John immediately asked, hardly caring about just where Jubilee had gotten off to in the light of finding out about the school's secret passages.

But by the firm set of Scott's jaw and how his shoulders stiffened at the question, Kitty thought she knew the answer to that. The passages weren't anything leftover from the yesteryears of the Xavier Estate, the mechanical behind the door looked too new.

"You hoped you wouldn't have to, didn't you?" Kitty asked, earning herself a troubled admission of guilt from her teacher.

"There's no point in keeping it a secret from you any longer, but that's a drill that can wait until next week." Scott confessed, offering her his hand to lead her from the dusty passage.

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"Jones, could you just pick something already?" John wearily groaned as the station flipped again.

"But there's nothing on." As if to prove his point, Jones blinked again to change the channel.

It was a waiting room like any other, replete with uncomfortable seats and old magazines that ranged from People to National Geographic. Looking up from an interesting article in Nat Geo, Kitty ignored the argument over what was playing and stole a peek at Bobby where he was busy playing checkers with Terri.

"King me." Terri demanded.

"I'm gonna have to teach you Chess, I mean you'll probably still school me but at least I won't feel as bad about it."

Hiding a smirk behind her magazine, Kitty added chess along with ice skating as things she had in common with Bobby, or so she hoped. The occasional cup of tea in the evening with the Professor had her brushing up on own game.

"I don't like needles!"

Ever since the lady doctor had vanished with Jubilee and Jean, such defiant outbursts had carried from the office, but this was more fearful than stubborn and Kitty felt a pang of sadness for her little cutie as a incoherent scream rang. But while screaming kids belonged in a doctor's office, the rapid fire snap and bang of firecrackers didn't. Bobby and Scott beat her and John alike in getting to their feet to rush down the hall.

"Jean!?" Scott called at the door as the stink of smoke wafted throughout the practice.

"We're alright Scott, we're all just a little bit scared is all." Jean answered, her voice turning quieter as she sought to sooth Jubilee, "It's okay, you didn't mean to."

The article, however interesting it had been, could no longer hold her attention. What had her interest was seeing the side of John she liked, excusing himself without a word to head down that hall where Scott and Bobby lingered. He didn't need to ask Scott for permission, knocking at the door in a rare bit of courtesy for him.

The door opened to a suspicious crack from which Jubilee peeked out of, her lips set in a stubborn line despite her damp cheeks. John vanished with the slamming of the door, the minutes that followed quiet enough that Jones found himself interested in an infomercial if just to make up for the idle chatter that had so very quickly died.

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New York was behind them and with it the trip to the doctor's office, the shopping trip between then and now told by the bags that filled the back of the Suburban. Finding themselves at the Roadhouse, it was a bar and grill that had been a mainstay of Westchester County for ages if the stories she been told of it were anything to go by. Kitty picked away at her burger and tried her best to appear aloof, even if her curiosity was killing her because of the game they were playing.

"Most embarrassing moment?" Turning over the question, Bobby sipped at his soda and considered it for a moment, "My parents thought I was wetting the bed."

Unable to hold back a snort of laughter, Kitty couldn't believe Bobby had the gumption to tell them something like that. As if to prove his point, a fine layer of frost spread over his hand that quickly melted a few seconds later. It painted a picture that told of a boy waking up at night, not knowing what was going on and trying to hide it with midnight trips to the laundry hamper and linen closet.

"I broke my bed." Pete added as his own admission.

"You've done that here." John looked to Kitty and Terri who both likely remembered a couple of nights where something had gone bump between the twilight hours.

"It was a bunk bed, my older brother had the bottom bunk."

"Ouch dude. I mean seriously, ow."

Wincing out of sympathy for Pete's older brother, it wasn't so much that he was heavy when he shifted...as much as he was hard. Just the same he was still pretty heavy and she could only imagine the rude awakening the Rasputin household must have had that night. Finding herself called out for her own moment, she already had too many to pick from that she didn't want to relieve.

"My parents thought I was sleep walking, a couple of times I woke up down in the basement."

That left Jones, John, and the girl they were trying to make feel better about her accident back at the doctor's office, Jubilee. And just like Jubilee, she wouldn't go asking Jones about any embarrassing moments, not after the hard luck he'd already suffered.

"I thought my mom bought some trick candles for my birthday, huff and puff all I could, they wouldn't blow out." John revealed, noisily squeaking his straw against his soda lid as he did.

Giving him a kick to get his attention as he stared at his soda, Kitty let her smile be her thanks for opening up like he had. The John she knew was back with a cocky wink, but beneath it she saw the John she liked, the one that did what she couldn't, be a friend to a girl who needed one.

"I blew up the Plasma, just...paf and it was gone. The only reason they were mad was because there was no way to explain it for the extended warranty."

"Paf?" Terri asked all too innocently.

Like Bobby before her, Jubilee held up her hand in a shy display of what made her different. Static sparks snaked up her finger unto the tip, bursting with the now familiar crackling pop of firecrackers.

"Paf."

Having more questions than answers that nagged at her, Kitty filed them away for the day she hoped she could ask them. Finding a smile in comparing Jubilee to John, just maybe she'd have to wait for a few more off hand remarks to get to know the guarded girl.

"I'll change the channel for you." Jones offered, mustering up a sheepish smile for the girl that sat across from him.

Knowing a crush when she saw one, Kitty looked to her own. Bobby was completely oblivious to her admiration and just maybe that was for the best, but a napkin doodle said her affections weren't unnoticed. Folding it up like a lady's favour, Pete tucked it away from prying eyes.

Thinking she had her own tale to tell of a night spent at the Roadhouse, Kitty let herself imagine the children of Xavier's that had come before her, before all of them. Hiding in plain sight doing all the things like any other teen their age, trying to figure it all out even if they pretended they already had all the answers.

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	5. Chapter 5

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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The school showed its age in a thousand different ways, for all the renovations the old bones could still be found if Kitty looked close enough. Once it was a news clipping brown with age used as a bookmark, another time a bit of graffiti showing through a coat of paint that couldn't hide the handiwork of a ballpoint. The easiest reminder was the cold that crept in that had them huddling together in the den, a roaring fire and candles striving to stave off the chill.

Like a dying ember, day surrendered to night as the sun fell behind the bare trees that soundly slept dreaming of the Spring. Fettered ribbons of clouds clung to the horizon, the sky above bleak and black, speckled with the coming frost of stars that crept across the window of the world.

Hiding beneath blankets and curled up close to the fireplace, the television was forgotten for the night in favour of a game of Monopoly. Terri shared her fleece comforter with Jubilee, John favoured a quilt, and Kitty herself enjoyed the warmth of a knitted blanket she had found in a closet after a bit of snooping.

"You guys are making me hot just looking at you." Bobby complained.

Kitty joined Terri and Jubilee in showing their annoyance at his seeming comfort despite the cold that had them shiver and shake, suffering their baleful glares that made promises to be kept for another day. John favoured a rude gesture made safe because Scott and Jean were nowhere to be found, busy as they were out in the kitchen running the kettle for hot chocolate.

"I still say those two are working together, there's too much whispering going on between them." John said with a look to Terri and Jubilee.

"You're just mad because you keep landing on Terri's hotels and Jubilee's railroads." Kitty teased, she wasn't doing much better but was content enough with her baby blues which had always been a favourite of hers.

"Hey, I got hotels of my own. You're gonna eat those words when you finally land on my Boardwalk You can't keep getting lucky dodging it and Bobby's Baltic Avenue every time you pass go."

"What he said." Bobby added, he had his own hotels which hadn't done him any favours yet.

For all his complaints though, Kitty caught John's eye time and again to see a sentiment she shared, the enjoyment of seeing their latest addition starting to settle in. It began with a game of Goldilocks and ended with bunk beds and Terri getting the roommate she always wanted. That had been a week ago and there had been a few shopping trips since, and only once so far did they have to play a game of hide and seek, all because of a toaster well past its warranty and not one bit Jubilee's fault for the smoke and sparks.

"You think Jones is enjoying his trip?" Bobby asked, shaking the dice for all he was worth.

"Going with the Prof and Miss Munroe to CNN? I bet he's gonna sneak on set with Larry King the first chance he gets."

Laughing at the truth hidden in that jest, Jones was the quiet type who wasn't too shy to share his thoughts if only someone asked him after them. To picture him across from Larry King had her chest hurting from a fit of giggles.

"Shortbread!" Terri suddenly squealed loud enough to have them wince in pain.

"Now we know why the hot chocolate is taking so long." John commented, he had his own guesses that didn't have to do with any baking.

That Scott and Jean were lovers was no secret, all it took to see them for the sweethearts they were was a look at the pictures that hung in the halls. They played at being professional from first bell until the last, but outside of school hours they didn't bother to hide their affection for another.

"Nine." Jubilee mumbled from beneath her warm retreat.

Bobby was nearest, so he took her little doggy for a walk around the board that fell short of Free Parking.

"Pay up Hollywood." John found himself that much richer by his luck at having New York Avenue, all the rest disputed between their ownership and haggled over at every turn.

Bitting her bottom lip because of her curiosity over a nickname, Kitty caught Bobby peeking at her with a flush that wasn't because of the fire that chased away the winter chill. Feeling her own cheeks rise a rosy red, the dice were a distraction so she could focus on the game at hand.

"Dammit." Kitty swore, running her battleship aground at Park Place.

Liquidating an asset in the kind of trade that kept things interesting, she paid her due by whipping St. James Place across the board. It left Terri with Tennessee as his last avenue at a monopoly over the orange. All that stood between him and hotels was the fact that he had the Electric Company while Jubilee had Water Works, that and the fleece blanket that made cozy bedfellows between her and Terri.

Pete quietly tiptoed past them to the chesterfield where he had a book waiting. Kitty knew just where he had been, but Jubilee curiously peeked past her shoulder to spy him tucking his feet beneath himself as his only concession to the cold.

"How's Yana doing?" Kitty asked.

"Home sick with a cold, but Mamma won't let that be an excuse not to get her homework done. I helped her with a few questions, I think I just might find a few more waiting in my inbox."

"Illyana's his little sister, her and me are the same age." Terri whispered to Jubilee.

Kitty saw a sad longing in Jubilee that she was no stranger to herself, even John for how aloof he acted was susceptible to it. Her own letters home felt like lies, shying away from phone calls because she couldn't trust herself not to let something slip. She could never tell them why the headaches had stopped, just that they had, or that she wasn't sleepwalking anymore as they had believed. Thinking of Jones, she wondered just how close she came to a pill regimen herself that would have only made things worse.

"What say we cash out so Pete can get on in for a new game." Bobby offered.

"But I'm winning!" Terri crowed, grumpily glaring at him.

"I'm still the dog." Jubilee said, holding her diecast pup near her own little fortune of colourful money and properties.

Kitty only knew Illyana from phone calls, she was a girl always curious to meet her big brother's friends and classmates if just as faces that gathered in emails. But it was easy to see that she was a lucky girl to have a brother as kind and as gentle as Pete, watching him settle down with Terri and Jubilee, snuggling with them under the warm fleece. The tension Jubilee had in her shoulders bled faded and soon she was letting Pete take her little dog for a walk around the board.

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Doing the dishes together as the cookies baked, Scott held his sweetheart close, his chin on Jean's shoulder as he looked out at the winter eve that lay beyond the frosted pane. The conversation carried from the den, casting a spell that took him back years before when they hadn't been much older themselves. An elbow to the ribs was enough to bring him back, finding a stack of dishes that needed drying.

"I wonder if we could get them interested in a game of Risk." Scott mused, putting a seldom used bowl away that only ever seemed to get pulled out for a bit of baking.

"Only if you promise to take it easy on them, Fearless Leader." Jean teased.

"Even still it wouldn't be the same without Hank likening every round to historical battles."

"They'd probably just think you're forcing homework on them."

He had an oft used quote on the tip of his tongue, the tragedy of mistakes doomed to be made again and again, but he had to admit that there were just times he wanted to beat his older brother without hearing about Napoleon.

"And don't even think about Clue, Terri had nightmares for a week."

"At least it was Ororo's bed she crept into." Scott chuckled, though soon suffering troubled thoughts of a night not so very long ago when he had to creep from his own bed to comfort someone.

Draining the sink and rinsing away the last of the suds, with their mess tidied Jean peeked into the oven to check on the latest batch of cookies. Shortbread was a recipe so easy she had been tempted to call them in to help, but the warmth of their surprise was a treat enough, even if she had heard Terri the moment she caught the first whiff of the sweet aroma wafting into the den.

"I remember how much we used to tip toe around each other, afraid to ask all the questions we wanted to because we were scared to answer them ourselves." Jean whispered, finding her forgotten mug of tea if just to warm her hands.

Trust was a bridge built one brick at a time, it was dangerous work that could be undone with one thoughtless act or offhand comment. It wasn't anything that had to be done alone.

"Remember when Hank offered to teach 'Ro to fly? It was a good thing Sean did it instead after listening to those stories he had to tell." Scott laughed, brazenly stealing a cookie before making it two, making Jean an accessory to his crime by giving her one.

"Every time I pass by that window." Jean said with a bout of giggles that were impossible to stifle.

Finding his breath and wondering just when he'd grown up, it seemed like just yesterday that he was a gangly teen worrying about that he was going to do with the rest of his life.

"You got your one wish, to be a pilot like your father." Jean softly said in the quiet of the kitchen.

A tap to her temple told of her eavesdropping, it was a gesture he blamed on Charles, a mentor to them all in a multitude of ways. She never had to ask, he was always open with her, even if it earned him a swat from time to time those rare moments his eyes wandered. They had spent years building their bridge, it hadn't always been easy work, but looking into her eyes he would never regret the mistakes that had them resolve to be stronger at the next moment of weakness.

"That's high praise coming from you, Doctor Grey."

An egg timer interrupted their trip down memory lane, a reminder that they had cookies baking to check on. Giving them just one more minute to be sure, Scott held her and looked inwards of the school that had become their home.

"I wonder what they all want to be..." Scott asked, a finger to his lips cutting him off.

"We have some kids waiting on hot chocolate and cookies, I'll get the mugs and you get the plates."

Smirking at her gentle reprimand, he shouldn't have needed the reminder, it was there in brass out on the front gate after all. It was a school for children first despite all their gifts, a safe place to grow up without thinking about an uncertain tomorrow. Theirs was a debt to be paid forward, because what they had been given was priceless, hope for the future.

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	6. Chapter 6

Marvel owns the X-men, no profit is to be made from this work.

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Jubilee had spent nights awake getting to know the usual noises made by the house that was promised to be her new home. She got to know the faces to those on their nightly excursions, peeking from cracked doors and old fashioned keyholes until she knew their routine. But tonight footsteps the likes of which she didn't know crept down the hall, footsteps that didn't belong to the house so late at night.

"Terri?" Jubilee whispered, "Terri?"

Peeking over the top bunk, Terri slept the deep slumber of someone untroubled by the things that went bump in the night. It had been comforting at first, being free to creep from her bed and investigate the school with no worry of waking up her roommate, but tonight Jubilee found it annoying at best and a tiny bit terrifying to tell the truth.

The door swung open subtlety slow revealing a shadow she didn't know. Jubilee played it against memories of her midnight visitors and found none that fit, pretending to be asleep as the silhouette crept closer. Holding her breath as her heart raced, panic clutched at her chest.

Risking a peek at last, a stranger stared back from just over the edge of the safety rail that kept her from taking a tumble out of bed. He reached for her and she made her choice, letting the panic out in a burst of dazzling light and deafening snaps and pops. Terri woke with a scream to be cut off as Jubilee grabbed her by the hand, the tumble from the top bunk not really that bad as long as she expected it.

Racing out the door, someone grabbed her and hoisted her up as she screamed. Squirming against the strong grasp, a couple of kicks found her target told by a pained grunt, making sure her attacker wouldn't be getting up anytime soon as she gave him one last kick with all her strength.

"Run!" Jubilee screamed, taking Terri's hand to lead the way.

"What's going on!?"

It was a voice Jubilee knew and trusted, Scott Summers, the man who promised her a home. Jean was just a few steps behind, crouching to take Terri and her in a hug that swore they were safe now. Wincing as the lights were turned on and blinking away the spots that danced within her vision, the men stumbled about with their hands raised in surrender.

"Alex?" Scott asked, his own hand falling away from his glasses along with the unspoken threat therein.

"Hey bro, nice boxers." Coughing hard and cupping his crown jewels, he didn't bother to get up from his pained crouch.

"Daddy?!" Terri gasped, rushing to the ginger of the pair that stumbled from her bedroom.

"Come give your Da a hug Theresa."

Feeling her face burn red out of embarrassment, Jubilee looked from the men to Jean who clearly was struggling against a fit of laughter.

"We heard screaming?!" Kitty was silent in her arrival, ghosting through a wall in pyjamas but looking ready for a fight.

"False alarm." Scott said with a shake of his head, tying up his robe that hung open with how hastily it had been thrown on.

"Am I in trouble?" Jubilee asked.

"Not so much as I think you all owe each other an apology." Jean soothed away any feelings of guilt with a smile, giving a push to urge her on.

Glancing back to see Bobby, John and Pete standing in the hall in track pants and shorts, Jubilee's blush went from beet red to nearly purple as Ororo jogged in from the other end of the hall. Stubbornly willing herself forward, she picked Alex first because she didn't want to interrupt the scolding Terri was giving her dad.

"Sorry." Jubilee mumbled past her tightly drawn lips and hollowed out cheeks.

"Back at ya half pint."

This time she didn't fight him as he reached for her, pulling her into a hug that let her hide her face from the crowd. He smelt of spicy aftershave and the cold, telling traces of snow melting against her cheek as she hid in his arms.

"Alright boys, you know the drill. At least I won't have to listen to any stories of how many there were this time as I patch you up." Jean ordered with an air of routine to her words.

"They're never gonna let us live this down." Terri's dad groaned, heading off down the hall with his daughter in tow.

"Nope." Alex grunted, hobbling along after while tenderly holding himself where it hurt.

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"You paffed Sean?" Kitty asked between a fit of giggles.

"I didn't know who he was! Just saw some dude reaching for me in my bed, so I paffed him." Grumpy was something Jubilee did really well, a work of art fit for the sketches Pete doodled of her, just the right mix of petulant and adorable.

"He was probably trying to tuck you in." John added from the stove, setting a pot of soup to heat for their guests.

"I was plenty tucked in!"

A little voice in the back of her head told Kitty that she was bullying Jubilee, but if there was one thing she was getting to know about the girl, it was that she didn't back down from a fight. It was that little bit of insight that let her get to know the girl through their arguments, painting a picture every bit as pretty as Pete could.

The touch of ice at her neck sent a shiver through her spine, spinning about to glare at Bobby holding up the offending ice cube. She didn't know whether to scowl at him or smile, he had a playful side that couldn't resist a prank, or so she was learning. There was a rivalry brewing between him and John that was likely to spill out of the den to the mansion at large, their games of Halo growing more heated as they honed their abilities, steel sharpening steel.

"Careful Bobby, I'm not above bribery."

"Bribery?" Bobby seemed confused, though Kitty smiled at him in a way that wasn't so sweet, a smile fit for a shark.

"Jubilee has a sweet tooth and I know where all the snacks are hidden, you do the math."

"You know where the Twinkies are?" Kitty had Jubilee's attention now, all her teasing was forgiven in the light of an illicit treat.

Another former alumni of Xavier's had come by to play tutor to a girl who was bad at math through no fault of her own, that Jubilee suffered from Dyscalculia had been shared with Kitty so she might help her when Hank couldn't be around. Twinkies were just the kind of treat to see the girl through the word problems and equations that gave her so much trouble.

"Go take these sandwiches down to the boys, there just might be something waiting for you when you get back." Kitty hinted, passing off a plate stacked high of corned beef on rye.

"Hey Drake, mind the soup. I"ll give Hollywood a hand." John offered, grabbing a pitcher of iced tea and a stack of plastic cups.

Alone at last, Kitty felt the words on the tip of her tongue and bit down against them. They hadn't been alone since his first days, playing tour guide and showing him around. For a school that felt so empty at times, moments like this were few and far between.

"You ever wonder what we could have actually done if...?" Bobby let the words die in his throat, shrugging them off with a smirk as he drew patterns in the sink, tracing ice in the dishwater.

"If it hadn't been Alex and Sean?" Kitty felt her stomach grow tight remembering her own worry and fear at hearing a scream in the middle of the night.

"I mean Pete could break anyone in two, sure, and John, well..."

John could literally light somebody up, but what could they do Kitty wondered. Bobby couldn't do much more than give someone a good shiver in the heat of the moment, as for herself, all the theories Hank had shared with her couldn't change the fact that all she was good at was running.

"Jubes took pretty good care of herself actually." The words felt weak even as Kitty said them, an excuse for her own failings.

"She shouldn't have to."

Not her, Terri or Jones, they were the youngest and Kitty felt responsible for them, just as Bobby surely did. She didn't feel shy as she joined him at the sink, offering him a hug that she herself needed. He didn't turn to embrace her but that was alright, something felt right about how he stood against the counter brooding in his own way, warming her cheek against his back and listening to the even beat of his heart.

"We could always try training, figure out ways to do something if we ever have to." Kitty was known to take walks alone and the school had plenty of places they could be alone given how large the estate was.

"All the stuff they don't teach in class?" Bobby hit the nail on the head, their classes were about control, how to live with their powers.

Teenagers they were and it was their right to be cynical, but the future didn't look so rosy, all it took was an evening with Jones watching CNN. They had people they wanted to protect, people they wanted to save from having to do something they might regret, people like John, Jubilee and Pete.

Kitty knew they all had endured enough pain already even if they didn't want to talk about it, even Pete for how quiet he was, missing his family everyday that didn't care that he had his strange power.

"Just not today." Kitty hugged Bobby tightly then, because they both could take comfort knowing they had everyone there to protect them when they finally curled back under the covers for a few hours of sleep.

Twisting in her grasp, Bobby turned and returned her hug, giving her the hug she longed for and needed.

"Shit, I still owe her a Twinkie." Kitty blurted out with a giggle that felt good as it rolled from her chest.

"Just where do you guys hide them anyway?" Bobby asked, earning himself a playful smack before getting shooed out of the kitchen.

Figuring out just what she could do with her gift in a fight could wait until tomorrow or maybe the day after, Kitty had a plenty good use for it at the moment, finding the secret stash of Twinkies tucked away from the only girl around that could snoop better than her.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

"I'm sorry I paffed ya."

Looking from the girl he was tucking in down to his daughter the next bunk down, Sean let go of a weary sigh realizing he was going to have to tell a story he'd been holding onto. Now of course his darling daughter knew he could fly, that wasn't anything he could keep from her, but the story about how he learned to fly...that was a secret he'd been keeping until he'd really gotten himself into deep shit with her.

"And here I just got you tucked in. I'm gonna help you down, just warning you ahead of time, then you're going to sit down with my wee Theresa so I can tell you a story." Sean said, finding a bit of that Irish brogue he'd picked up after falling in love with a lass from that emerald isle.

Wrapping the girls up in the warm fleece Theresa liked so much, Sean settled off in an old beat up recliner that had seen him through nursing her when she'd just been a babe in his arms.

"Now just so you know Theresa my dear, I told yuir Ma this same story when you were giving her a belly ache that had us up all night." Sean started, rest her soul, the love of his life was alive in the eyes of their daughter, "It all started off with Hank and his daft theories..."

Like the insane notion that a man could fly if only he screamed loud enough as he fell, it was fit for a cartoon coyote except that it had worked. Not at first, of course not, not until the day he'd been pushed out the nest, fly or fall his only options. But in for a penny, in for a pound. One story lead to another, and by the time he finally had two angels tucked in for the night, the sun was coming up.

"Sweet dreams girls." Sean whispered, draping a blanket from the top bunk so they could sleep soundly in the bottom.

Closing the door with nary a noise, it'd been all he'd meant to do earlier when the whole fiasco had started. He hadn't known his wee Theresa had finally gotten her wish for a roommate granted, stealing a peek of the girl on the top bunk becoming his own undoing. Catching a bit of bunk time until he got up to make his girl brunch instead of breakfast, Sean said his prayers to the Lord above if just so the Almighty could pass along the love for a lady always kept waiting.

"Watch over our daughter for me would you mother? I'll see you in my dreams."

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


End file.
